Ep 2: A House's Secret
by Kid W25
Summary: COMPLETE. The Doctor and Heather go back to the 21st of May 2013, only to find themselves one day early. After an awkward meeting with someone from Heather's past, they decide to investigate a house thought to be haunted. ORIGINAL DOCTOR/ORIGINAL COMPANION.
1. A Ghostly Beginning

**Chapter 1:  
**A Ghostly Beginning

_**19th of May, 2013  
**_Jeremy took his time walking down the dirt path. It was a beautiful night, and he wasn't going to hurry through. He was going to enjoy his walk and nothing was going to change his mind.

It was only a short pathway through a back field behind several houses, he had been walking down this path since he moved over here with the rest of his family eight years ago. And there is nothing better in his life than to walk down the path in the evening and enjoying the cool, crisp breeze blowing through his shoulder-length, blonde hair.

He went through the jungle-like shrubbery that surrounded the house that seemed out-of-place somewhere along the path. Usually this part of the path only gave him an uneasy feeling, but tonight, there was something more. Something that gave him a physical shudder as he walked past the house.

Jeremy heard a stick crack and shot off down the path, he took a quick look behind him and screamed when he saw a grotesque figure standing where he was standing before he started sprinting.

That night, he came home panting, shivering and he decided to lock himself in his bedroom to be plagued by nightmares of the figure that he saw standing by the house hidden in the middle of the pathway.

* * *

_**The Tardis console room  
**_The Tardis rocked and jolted as it travelled down the Time Vortex. As Heather knew nothing about controlling the Tardis, all she could do was watch the Doctor run around the circular main console and listened to when he would instruct her to help him out. With a hollow bump, the Tardis landed and the Doctor raced to the door, Heather following as best as she could behind him, "well, here we are, the 21st of May, 2013. Let's see what's imprinted in your mind! I've parked a couple of blocks away from the kindergarten so that we don't run into previous you."

He threw the Tardis doors open with a 'Ta-da!" and Heather looked out – what she saw, disappointed her.

"This isn't a couple of blocks away from the kindergarten, this is a couple of suburbs away! We're in Box Hill!" she exclaimed.

"What? There's a hill in the shape of a box?" the Doctor peered out, pushing past Heather. "It looks nothing like a box hill."

"No, that's the name of the suburb. Surely, the Lord of Time knows about the name of suburbs." Heather made fun of him.

"I've been to more planets than you could imagine. There's too many suburb names to remember." The Doctor said flatly, then he swirled around to Heather, "so, what are we going to do?"

"Well, unless you are able to land the Tardis closer to the kindergarten, then we'll do just that." Heather explained.

The Doctor sniggered, "yeah right, with this old girl. Impossible." He then turned around and shut the Tardis door and patted it before locking it, "so sorry, dear. Didn't mean to offend you."

"I guess we'll have to get there by other means." Heather groaned.

"Good plan. But first, let's have some food. You must be starving." The Doctor suddenly said.

"What?" Heather said.

* * *

Heather ate her hamburger slowly, watching the Doctor closely, "you don't eat a lot, do you?"

"No, not really. I don't need as much food to fuel my body." The Doctor explained.

"So, when are we going to go see what happened to me...today?"

"You'll soon start talking about time without feeling awkward." The Doctor laughed. "But, to answer your question, we'll go over very soon. I feel weird wearing these clothes."

"But they're your clothes, yeah?"

"Well, yeah. No. I guess. Maybe. It's quite complicated." The Doctor struggled to answer her. "I have, what is essentially, multiple lives. Like a cat – but more amazing, 'cause I get more lives."

"What?"

"I've got, what is essentially, thirteen lives." The Doctor said.

"How do you get thirteen lives?" Heather asked.

"We just do. Just did. I just do." The Doctor said solemnly.

Heather was confused but continued eating. Suddenly, she saw the Doctor's body tensing, "what?"

"What ever you do, don't turn around." The Doctor said quietly.

"What, what is it?" Heather asked, starting to turn around, but the Doctor grabbed her shoulder.

"Just wait for a bit."

Heather waited until the Doctor let her go and she looked to where he was looking.

That's when she saw herself.

* * *

**Only a short chapter, but I hope it's enough to pique your interest for this next story.  
Kid W25**


	2. A Day Early

**Chapter 2:  
**A Day Early

"What?" Heather exclaimed, spinning back to the Doctor. "How is that possible? I'm right here."

The Doctor looked at his watch, "no, it can't be," he groaned.

"What is it?"

The Doctor looked around and saw a man reading a newspaper and jumped up, "sorry, sorry, sorry. Is that today's newspaper?"

The man looked at him weirdly and nodded. The Doctor looked for the date and when he found it he exclaimed, "no."

"What is it?" Heather asked, careful not to be too loud.

"We're a day early." The Doctor said.

"What?"

"We're a day early." The Doctor said, sitting back down with Heather. The other Heather was already out of sight.

"Not only did you miss the suburb, but you missed the day too." Heather sniggered.

The Doctor glared at her.

"You're rubbish." Heather continued.

"Oi, I won't help you, if you can't settle down."

"Of course you will." Heather smiled at him, "What are we going to do then?"

"Well, since we got more time than I expected," he looked down at his clothes, "why not go shopping for a bit? I want to be out of this suit. It isn't...me."

* * *

"How's this?" the Doctor asked as he walked out. He was dressed in a pair of jeans, black hiking boots, navy blue polo shirt and a black leather jacket.

"No, that looks like you had a ten-year old bikie enthusiast dress you." Heather said.

A bit later, the Doctor came out in a black-and-white tuxedo, black dress shoes and a baseball cap. "What about now?"

Heather laughed out loud, "you're either, a gangster getting married or a rapping penguin."

"What?" the Doctor looked down at the tuxedo, "no I don't."

"Yeah you do." Heather insisted.

* * *

"Third time's the charm" the Doctor said as he walked out in a plain-grey suit and black runners.

Heather looked at him all over and nodded slowly. "That actually doesn't look too bad. But, isn't it just the same thing that you were wearing, only instead of blue, it's now grey?"

"Don't forget the shoes, I love my new shoes."

"I think your other pair of shoes are better."

The Doctor looked distraught, "fine then! Don't support my new look!"

"Calm down, it's not the end of the world." Heather complained.

The Doctor smiled, "I'll take it!" he exclaimed to the salesperson.

* * *

"Why?" the Doctor groaned.

"Hey, stop complaining. You're the one that had the idea to start investigating the area aroung where I live to see if there was anything out-of-place." Heather said flatly.

"Yeah, but did we need to get there in a bus?" the Doctor complained.

"You wouldn't move the Tardis any closer."

"I didn't say 'wouldn't', I said 'couldn't'." The Doctor defended himself.

"Yeah, well, walking there all the way from Box Hill will just be a waste of time. It's much faster to take the bus." Heather explained.

"And much bumpier." The Doctor groaned as the bus shook.

Heather shook her head.

The bus arrived at the local shopping centre, "are we there yet?" the Doctor said, hoping.

"No, this is only Forest Hill Chase. There's about six or seven more stops till we get there."

The Doctor groaned and mumbled something in frustration.

People started getting on the bus at the front, and when someone that Heather wasn't expecting to see came on she froze. The Doctor sensed the tenseness of her body and looked at her, "I thought I was tense, look at you."

Heather turned to look out the window and tried to cover her face, "what? What's wrong Heather?" the Doctor asked her again. She nudged him hard, trying to get him to stop talking.

At the mention of Heather's name, a man turned and cautiously approached the Doctor and Heather, "Heather? Is that you?"

Heather pretended that she didn't hear the man. The Doctor leaned in close to her and said quietly, "Heather, someone's trying to speak to you."

"I know, I'm hoping he gives up."

"Is that you Heather?" the man asked again, "Heather Langford?"

Giving up, Heather turned around and pretended to be surprised, "Oh, John! I didn't see you. How are you?"

The man, John, smiled as he sat down in the same row, pleased that he got the right person. "I'm good thanks, you're looking good too I reckon."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Heather said awkwardly.

The Doctor leaned close to her and whispered, "who is this man?"

"Hang on," Heather whispered back to him.

"Is this," John hesitated, "someone you know?"

"Oh, him? Yeah, he's a friend of mine." Heather answered.

The Doctor held his hand out, "hi, the name's John Smith."

John looked shocked, "wow, what a coincidence, my name's John Smith too!"

The Doctor's jaw dropped in shock, "really?"

"Yeah," John laughed, "you're not a long-lost half-brother of mine or something, are you?"

The Doctor laughed uncomfortably, "no, no. I'm quite sure I'm not."

"I guess John Smith _is_ a common name after all." John smiled.

"Yeah, yeah." The Doctor managed to say.

"So, what brings you to take a bus? Don't you have a car?" John asked Heather.

"Uh, we've just had some lunch at Box Hill. I didn't take my car there." Heather answered.

"Fair enough. Fair enough. You still teaching at the kindergarten?"

"Yes, I am. Still loving it." Heather answered and attempted to smile at him. "What are you doing with yourself now? Still photographing?"

"Nah, I decided to use that journalism diploma and actually get a real job. I'm a reporter now." John explained. "I'm on my way to a story right now."

"Great! Anything interesting?" Heather asked, secretly wishing that this whole awkward conversation would stop.

"Yeah, I'm on my way to interview a teenager who claimed he saw a ghost." John said.

"A ghost?" Heather and the Doctor asked at the same time.

John looked at them, at the Doctor first then Heather, for a little bit, "yeah. The kid's convinced himself that the house near the park behind a line of houses is haunted.

"He saw a ghost?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, he believes he did."

"There's a haunted house near your house and you never told me?" the Doctor asked Heather.

"What? This is the first time I've heard of this." Heather exclaimed.

"Yeah, anyway," John said uncomfortably, "this is my stop. I might see you some time." John said.

They watched John get off the bus and as the line of people who came on the bus started to diminish, he quickly jumped up and got out of the bus with Heather racing after him, "what are you doing?"

"One, we're a day early from when we're supposed to come here. Two, there might be a haunted house – you can't say you're not a tiny bit curious. Three, I wanted to get out of the bus. I hate buses."

"What are we going to do now then?" Heather asked.

"We catch up to Mr. John Smith."

"Is John Smith really a common name?" Heather asked.

"No. Never actually met anyone else with that name." The Doctor said.

* * *

**Here we go, **_**ghosts!**_** Chapter 3 will be out as soon as possible. And who is this John Smith, who for some reason, is making Heather so uncomfortable?**

**Kid W25**


	3. A Scared Teenager

**Chapter 3:  
**A Scared Teenager

The house that they were going to belonged to a small street that was about one minute away from the bus stop. Realising that the kindergarten was also one street away, the Doctor stared down that direction in deep thought but when they got off the bus, he focused back to the task at hand.

Ghosts, he thought, I wonder if they're near-death aliens again.

On their way to the house, they passed another house with a statue of a woman covering her eyes with her forearm and he stared at it a bit. You can't be too safe.

"What are you staring at?" Heather asked when she realised he had stopped.

"Does the name 'Weeping Angels' ring any bells, unlock any memories?" the Doctor asked.

"No, it doesn't." Heather started.

"Good, means you've had the luck not to meet any. Keep hoping that you never do. Or pray. Depends if you're religious. What do people say these days? 'Whatever floats your boat'?"

The Doctor scanned the statue and looked at the results, "this is not an Angel." He murmured and tossed his sonic screwdriver playfully before placing it back in his jacket's chest pocket.

They finally arrived to the house and John walked up to the door to answer it, while Heather stood behind him and the Doctor scanning the garden behind them.

A woman answered the door, Heather guessed that it was the mother. She was proven correct when the woman called down her son, Jeremy, when John explained who he was.

"Come in, but I must ask, who are the others? I didn't know you were going to bring colleagues to the interview."

The Doctor jumped up and flipped open his leather booklet before John could start lying, lying was the Doctor's specialty.

"I'm Jared Waylard Smith, I'm Mr. Smith's superior, but for this article, we are co-writing and that is Ms. Laura Taylor, my assistant."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Smith, Ms. Taylor," she looked back to the Doctor, "are you a relative of Mr. Smith?"  
"No, we just share the same surname. Sorry, didn't catch your name, John's trying to keep me out of the loop of everything, he wants all the credit." The Doctor laughed but when no one else joined in, he stopped awkwardly.

"I'm Jenny Shore, come in!" the mother smiled. The trio politely passed her and stepped into the living room.

"You seem really familiar, Ms. Taylor, are you sure we haven't met before?" Jenny asked.

Heather froze a bit before regaining her calm, "if we have Ms. Shore, then I'm sorry, because I can't remember."

"Ah…" Jenny muttered.

It was then that Jeremy came down the stairs, and was a bit cautious when he saw the Doctor and Heather, "I thought I was only going to be talking to you Mr. Smith."

"Oh yeah, I'm Jared Waylard Smith, I'm co-writing the article. I'm sorry he hasn't said about it or anything."

"Well," John started to point out that they just decided to follow him without his consent but Heather gave him a cold look.

"Oh, okay then." Jeremy muttered quietly and sat down.

"So, the way we're going to do this Jeremy, is that, we'll just be asking you some questions to find out more about what you have told me quickly over the phone. Please answer it truthfully." John explained to Jeremy.

"Please make sure that you don't put anything out-of-context, the experience has really frightened him. He rarely leaves his room." Jenny reminded John.

"Of course!" the Doctor chimed in, a bit too happy for the circumstances.

* * *

"So, if I'm getting this right, you believe that you saw a figure –" John started to summarise from the story that Jeremy told them.

"Grotesque. Don't forget that it was a grotesque figure." The Doctor interrupted.

John looked at him coldly, "Grotesque figure," he turned back to Jeremy, "when you were walking home from school?"

"Yeah, on the pathway that goes behind the primary school." Jeremy explained.

"Which primary school are we talking about, 'cause if I remember correctly, there're two primary schools near here." John asked.

"Yeah, it's behind Parkmore, around there." Jeremy pointed to a direction behind them.

"That's next to the kindergarten." Heather commented.

"Oh! Right! Fascinating!" the Doctor exclaimed, then became serious again, "now Jeremy, I'm sorry to do this to you, but can you describe to me what the figure looked like?"

Jeremy was cautious, "do I really have to?"

"I'm sorry Jeremy, but I need to make sure that you were hallucinating." The Doctor explained.

"Hallucinating?" Jenny exclaimed. "Do you really think that my son would agree to this interview if he hallucinated?"

"Mum…" Jeremy groaned.

"I'm so sorry, but I need to make sure." The Doctor explained.

Before his mother could say anything more, Jeremy stopped her, "it's okay mum. Mr. Smith is right," he turned back to the Doctor, "it was really weird-looking, I can't really explain it. Sort of," Jeremy paused to think of words, "this may sound weird, but alien, you know. The type you see on science-fiction movies and stuff."

John spluttered on his cup of water. "A-alien?"

"Alien?" Heather asked sceptically.

The Doctor lit up, "are you sure?"

"Well," Jeremy started, "it was definitely not what I expected in a ghost. It wasn't all white, and menacing-looking – you know – evil-girl-who's-haunting-you-forever-type of thing."

"Interesting, can you specify any characteristics of the figure?" the Doctor asked.

Jeremy thought for a bit, "no, sorry, I really can't."

The Doctor smiled and held out his fist, "no worries, you've done well Jeremy."

Jeremy looked at the Doctor's fist awkwardly and refused to give the Doctor a fist-bump.

The Doctor put down his arm, "yeah, I felt weird doing that."

* * *

The Doctor, Heather and John walked down the street and approached the bus stop before the Doctor abruptly stopped.

"John, you know what we should do now?" the Doctor asked.

"What?" John asked.

"Oh, really? We've been told that there might be alien-looking ghosts right behind the primary school that is right down this road, and you're not going to do anything about it?"

"Well, it is getting dark –"

"What better time to look for ghosts?" the Doctor exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air, "at night!"

"He's got a point," Heather commented.

"Okay, let's go then." John agreed finally.

"Hang on, have we got everything we need?" the Doctor asked.

"What would we need?" Heather asked.

"Well, a camera with night-vision ability for starters." The Doctor spun around on his heels, "I'm pretty sure I've got one in the TARDIS somewhere."

"Do-John," Heather nearly slipped, "it's over in Box Hill. We took a bus here, remember?"

The Doctor scowled, "oh yes, that foul thing. John! Are you able to drive us to Box Hill?"

"We met him on the bus." Heather muttered.

"Don't worry, I've got a mate who can help us out." John joined in.

* * *

John had left the Doctor and Heather outside of another house, ten minutes away from the bus stop. He came back out with a camera that had a night-vision lens. They walked up behind the primary school and stopped by a bench that was near the house mentioned by Jeremy and set up the camera and started recording.

"What do we do now?" John asked.

"I don't know what you want to do, but I'm going to get a closer look at the house." The Doctor answered, "if you want, you can come too."

"Actually, can I talk to you for a bit Heather?" John said.

"Yeah sure, you go ahead, I'll catch up." Heather said to John then to the Doctor.

The Doctor gave her the thumbs-up and strolled down the footpath closer to the house.

"How have you been Heather?" John asked.

"I've been alright." Heather answered, "a bit busy. But it's been fine, you?"

"Yeah, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster since, you know," John was at a loss of words.

"We separated?" Heather suggested.

"Yeah, but it's gotten better." John said, turning a bit red.

The Doctor cooed out loud and they looked at him. He was stamping the ground before inspecting it.

"Look, I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you since we separated, but I've got a lot on my plate right now and," Heather paused, "that John is the only one who's helping me out and even though sometimes he doesn't make sense, even to me, he's the only one that made the most sense of most of what's happened to me recently. I need to catch up to him." Heather excused herself and walked down the pathway.

"I remember a time when I made the most sense to you." John muttered.

Heather stood next to him and shuddered for no reason.

"So you felt that too?" the Doctor, still studying the ground, asked without looking up at her.

"Someone just walked on my grave." Heather muttered.

The Doctor straightened up suddenly, "why do people call it that? Actually I think I may be the reason that it's called that."

"How?"

"Long story, another time maybe, it's a great one though." The Doctor said, now back to studying the ground, "what's important is, what's making us shudder?"

"Do you know?" Heather asked him.

"No." the Doctor answered simply.

"Are you excited?"

The Doctor looked up at her and grinned, "Am I ever."

* * *

**Finally here's the third chapter. I'm sorry it's taken this long to finally publish the chapter. I've seen to have my writing mo-jo back. It's probably because of series 7 coming back on TV right now. WOO! Reviews!**

**Kid W25**


	4. A Figure in the House

**Chapter 4:  
**A Figure in the House

It slowly crawled to night-time and when it was agreed that there's been enough ground-studying, the Doctor and Heather walked back up the path to John who was looking after the camera.

"So did you find anything?" John asked them.

"I don't even know what he was doing." Heather answered.

"I think this should be enough video, have you got a laptop that you can connect the camera too?"

"Yeah, here," John said grabbing his laptop and giving it to the Doctor who sat down on the bench near where the camera was set up, "but it's got practically no battery left."

The Doctor grabbed his sonic screwdriver and sonic-ed the laptop, "not anymore, it's got enough battery for 10 days straight now. Let's connect the camera."

John started to help the Doctor connect the camera to the laptop.

"What were you even doing Doctor?" Heather asked, "when we were down there, you barely said anything after getting excited and kept looking at the ground. What were you doing?"

"Well, while you two were doing absolutely nothing, I did what I do best," the Doctor said.

"And what is that?" Heather asked half-heartedly.

"Observe, I actually circled the entire house, scanning and I noticed one small thing, but it was a very important small thing," the Doctor explained, then waited to see if they could guess what it was, and when they couldn't, he continued with a disappointed tone, "the ants."

There was a beat of silence before Heather spoke again, "what about the ants?"

"They were – are – going around the house. Not _through_ the area, but _around_ the house. Like there was something that was keeping them from going through." The Doctor said, he then checked up on the progress of the video file being uploaded onto the camera.

"That is kind of weird." Heather muttered and looked back to the house.

"That is _very_ weird, and that's why it's got me so excited!" the Doctor grinned widely.

"Does it mean anything to you?" Heather asked.

"No, I'm not too sure about it yet, but I've got a few theories." the Doctor commented. "John, have there been any other instances where people have seen the ghosts around the house?"

"I've only asked around a few people but most of them have said they've had a glimpse of a figure or two."

"Were the sightings always at night, or were some during the daytime?"

"Most were daytime, usually when the day is beautiful, you know – sun up, no clouds, warm breeze – that kind of day." John explained.

"And when did Jeremy see his ghost?" the Doctor continued.

"Two days ago." John said, then his face lit up as he finally realised the connection.

"What?" Heather asked.

"Was it also a beautiful day? Were there any clouds over this area?" the Doctor smiled.

"Yeah, it was a fantastic day to be out on Sunday." John explained.

"I see." The Doctor muttered, "finally, the upload is done, let's look at it then."

Heather and John shifted so that they are at a good angle to look at the screen. The Doctor played the video and set it up to 4-times speed.

"What are we looking for?" Heather asked.

"Isn't this a bit too quick to notice something?" John asked.

"For you maybe, but for me, this is like child's play. I'm looking for anything out of the ordinary." The Doctor explained.

They watched the video in silence when suddenly the Doctor exclaimed, "right there!"

"Where?" John and Heather asked at the same time.

The Doctor paused and rewound the file before playing it at normal speed, they still couldn't see anything and the Doctor sighed. He took out his sonic screwdriver and sonic-ed the laptop once more. "I'll make it easier for you to notice."

The video on the screen started to zoom into a particular window on the second floor of the house.

"What's there?" Heather asked.

"Wait for it." The Doctor muttered.

And they did.

Suddenly, a figure seemed to filter into view and just stared at the camera. Not a lot of detail could be made out about the figure, just the fact that it was humanoid and a bit disfigured in the facial area. They could make out one eye that was larger than the other but they couldn't see the nose or the mouth.

"What the hell was that?" John asked.

"That's your ghost." The Doctor explained, laughing, "or well, one of them."

The Doctor placed the laptop on the bench next to him and jumped up.

"Why are you so happy?" John asked the Doctor and then again to Heather, "why is he so happy?"

"It's something new!" the Doctor exclaimed, "last time I met something that acted like they were ghosts, they were actually aliens who had converted themselves into beings of pure energy when a great war caused them to lose their physical bodies, but this is not them!"

He did his little stomping dance like earlier once more. "I love travelling. John, pack your stuff up, Heather, help him."

"Why, what's happening?" John asked.

"I'm going to show you what I believe we're facing." The Doctor grinned.

* * *

The Doctor pulled a torch from his jacket and shone it at the ground, "alright, as you can see, the ants are still at it, even though it's night-time, that's because they have further to go now that they need to travel around the house."

Heather and John saw that the ants were in fact travelling in an organised line, marching perfectly around the house.

"Why are they doing that?" John asked.

"Heather and I have experienced what may have made them do that." The Doctor said.

"The shuddering?" Heather asked.

"Exactly, let's step over this line of ants in three, two, one." The trio then stepped over the line of ants and shuddered at the same time. "And there's the shudder."

"Do you know what's making us do that?" Heather asked.

The Doctor threw his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and caught it before starting to scan the surroundings, "I have a very strong feeling about it, just need to find something to confirm it."

The sonic screwdriver started to beep and as he started to walk in a direction, the time between the beeps gradually got smaller and smaller until he was by a tree right at the edge of the circular route that the ants were taking. The individual beeps had merged into a single, unending beep. He shook the sonic screwdriver and scanned the tree.

Then the air shimmered and for a few seconds, nothing was different when suddenly, they were surrounded by grotesque figures.

Heather screamed and John froze. The figures then turned around to them. If they didn't realise the Doctor, Heather and John were there, they did now.

And the figures started to surround them.

* * *

**Chapter 4 is done! I hope it's starting to get interesting for everyone. Hopefully my creative juices keep flowing and chapter 5 will be quickly finished. I can tell you that it'll get more complicated starting with chapter 5. Till next time, reviews are still very welcome. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Kid W25**


	5. A Slight Complication

**Chapter 5:  
**A Slight Complication

"Are you sure we can do this?" the larger male said to the female.

"Yeah, it sounds like real ghosts, not just staged ones that we've filmed before." The smaller male continued to the female.

"Come on, I'm supposed to be the girl of the group, yet I'm the only one who's determined to do this." The female scoffed.

The larger male sighed and looked fearfully at the house in the distance.

The female turned around to face the two males, "come on guys, we're supposed to be the GhostHunters!"

"Yeah, but we're not _real_ ghost hunters. We just follow the orders of a big wig network guy – whom we've never met – and we go around pretending to catch ghosts!" the short male reasoned.

"Man up Chip. Seriously. What about you Hulk? You going to man up too?" the female inquired the larger male.

"Fine Ivy, let's just get this over and done with." Hulk sighed.

Ivy grinned and turned back around to face the house, "good! Now, let's go make us some money." She paused and squinted, "hang on, are those people?"

"Yeah," Chip spoke slowly, "holy crap! They're going to steal our glory!"

"Let's go! We need to show them who's boss!" Ivy ordered and ran down the pathway to the house with the her two colleagues following her.

* * *

The grotesque figures kept coming closer and closer to the trio and then one of them reached out to the Doctor. The Doctor panted quickly and turned his face away from the hand reaching for him and froze, not realising that the hand just went straight through his cheek.

He peeked and saw the grotesque figure looking at its hand quizzically before it turned and looked like it was telling the other grotesque beings something. Soon, all of the beings slowly walked away. The Doctor quickly scanned the now-visible box he scanned before and everything shimmered and was back to normal and the box, once again, invisible.

"Now we know why the ants are going around the house." The Doctor said out of nowhere. Heather and John looked at him with a confused look.

"When I scanned the box," he pointed to the base of the tree where the box was, "I semi-bridged two dimensions together. That's why we could see those beings and they can see us, but both of our groups could not hear what the other was saying."

Both humans were still confused.

"Those things were aliens!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"How do you know?" Heather asked.

"Well," the Doctor started, "I recognised the alien that reached towards me."

"How?" John exclaimed quite loudly.

"What? Haven't you told him yet?" the Doctor asked.

"Told me what?"

"Uh, no, I haven't, since we've been so busy with this house, you know" Heather murmured.

"Told me what?" John asked a bit louder.

"He's sort of an alien." Heather said.

"Sort of?" the Doctor asked, slightly offended.

"Alien?" John exclaimed.

"Yes. And don't try to get a story out of me, the government will make sure you won't be able to get any job but at fast-food 'restaurants'. Actually, you won't get any proper job." The Doctor glared at him. John nodded quickly.

"Stop right there!" a female's voice called out.

All of them turned and saw the GhostHunters running down the path towards them.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Ivy questioned them when she reached them.

"Well, I'm John Smith, he's John Smith and she's Heather, my assistant, we're reporters for The Sun." the Doctor answered quickly.

Chip leaned in, "crap Ivy, they're actual reporters."

"I'm sorry, but I need to ask you to leave this area now!" Ivy ignored Chip and stepped forward through the barrier and shuddered.

Chip and Hulk followed and they both shuddered. They looked at each other and then at Ivy.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked.

The GhostHunters scoffed, "seriously, you don't know who we are?"

"You're the GhostHunters?" John murmured, the Doctor turned around to him and frowned.

"GhostHunters?" the Doctor asked. "What kind of name is that? You're basically copying the Ghostbusters."

"Well, our name's got a capital 'H'!" Chip said childishly.

"Shut up Chip." Ivy said.

"Chip? Your name is Chip?" the Doctor laughed.

"It's a code-name, idiot!" Chip exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry," the Doctor apologised sarcastically.

Before Chip could explode in anger, Ivy stopped him, "enough, we're paranormal investigators, and we're here to investigate this haunted house, so we need you to leave right now."

"But aren't you guys fake?" John asked.

"_Fake_ paranormal investigators?" the Doctor said gleefully.

"No, whatever you've read about us, that is not true." Ivy said.

Hulk leaned down closer to her, "aren't we fake?" he whispered.

"Shut up!"

"Okay, okay, we'll get out of here for you guys – the GhostHunters – to do your, ghost hunting…" the Doctor said slowly. He turned around and winked at John and Heather.

They followed him as they walked back out of the area, all of them shuddering once more and walked up to the bench before the Doctor slumped down and crossed his legs.

They both sat next to him, "so, what are we going to do?"

"We're waiting for them to get into the house and then we'll follow." The Doctor answered.

"You know what the house is, don't you?" Heather asked.

"I believe so, yes."

"What is it?" John asked.

"You know how I said I recognised the alien that reached out towards me," the Doctor started. They both nodded, "it's because I put that alien where he is now."

"And that is where?" Heather asked.

"Fort RedCore" the Doctor said confidently.

There was a silence before the Doctor caught the looks of both John and Heather. Looks that could kill as he realised they don't know what Fort RedCore is.  
"It's a mental asylum." The Doctor explained, "the highest-security alien mental asylum, and for some reason, it is connected to Earth in some way."

* * *

**Finally chapter 5 is out, and some explanations are done! Stay tuned for chapter 6, coming out soon!**

**Kid.**


	6. A Mental Asylum to Die For

**Chapter 6:  
**A Mental Asylum to Die For

"How is a mental asylum connected to Earth?" Heather asked.

"Exactly, especially since the mental asylum we're talking about is locate on the other side of the galaxy." The Doctor commented. "It seems to be using the same kind of technology as my TARDIS."

"Your police box?" Heather asked.

"He has a police box?" John inquired.

They both ignore him, "yes, once you step through the door of my TARDIS, you leave this dimension and enter another dimension completely. That's why the TARDIS is bigger on the inside."

"So, are you suggesting that wherever those aliens are, it's completely bigger than the actual house?" Heather asked.

"Exactly. Fort RedCore encompasses half of the planet Trillop. Which is about as much land coverage as half of the Red Spot on Jupiter, if that was land" the Doctor murmured.

"That's," John paused as he worked out what the Doctor was saying, "big."

"Yes, it is." The Doctor said, "I wonder how we actually go in and out of it?"

"What do you mean?" Heather asked.

"Well, when you enter the TARDIS interior's dimension, you need to physically step through, or use a transmat or other high-tech, invasive technology. How do we enter and leave the mental asylum?" the Doctor explained, "do we just go into the field, fiddle around with that invisible box and voila, or do we need to do something physical?"

Suddenly, they heard a deep groaning sound coming from the house's direction. The area around the house shimmered and they were able to see the aliens roaming the area once more.

"That must be what the unfortunate locals have been witnessing." John stated.

Another shimmer and the aliens disappeared.

"Yes, but that wasn't me at all. And the prisoners _shouldn't _be able to do that to the dimension field." The Doctor murmured.

"Maybe someone's doing it somewhere." Heather guessed.

The Doctor jumped up and scanned the sky with his sonic screwdriver, "no, no one here has done anything to disrupt the dimension field. I've checked the whole world, and no one is doing anything that would do that."

"What about from the inside?" John asked.

"What? _No_!" the Doctor exclaimed, John looked hurt.

Heather backed John up, "oh come on Doctor, is it really that impossible that someone might have infiltrated, this Fort Red-something –"

"Fort RedCore." The Doctor interrupted.

"Is it impossible for someone or something to infiltrate Fort RedCore?"

"Yes! Yes it is! Because everything in Fort RedCore is automatic. Every patient that goes into Fort RedCore gets chipped, and also tattooed a barcode and scanned before entering so that every time they walk through a doorway inside, they are scanned to make sure that they're still inside. No one that was _not_ assigned to be at Fort RedCore are not chipped and tattooed and therefore, if anybody tries to walk around in Fort RedCore, security androids would be called upon and that intruder will be kicked off the planet."

"What happens if the whole system was hijacked?" Heather asked.

"'What happens if the whole system was hijacked?' Nothing, the system does _not_ get hijacked _ever_." The Doctor snapped.

"Geez, what is your problem?" Heather asked.

"I helped design the system."

"Oh, so this is some sort of pride-thing."

"Nope," the Doctor started, "I do not ever have some sort of pride-things" the Doctor mumbled.

"Ok, let's just assume that somehow, Fort RedCore _is_ hijacked. How do we fix the problem?" John said suddenly, desperate to stop the useless banter.

"Well, I'll need to find out exactly what is compromised in the system." The Doctor explained.

"Okay, so what do you need to determine that?" Heather asked.

"I need to get to Fort RedCore."

"Great, let's get to the TARDIS." Heather concluded.

"But it's all the way in," the Doctor paused to think, "that place."

"Box Hill." Heather helped him. "Well, I guess, we'll just have to hurry there."

There was another deep groaning sound coming from the house and they both turn to the house as the aliens reappeared on the path and gardens around the house. But this time they could hear hissing and groans coming from the aliens themselves.

"Oh, that's not good." The Doctor mumbled.

"What's happening? Are those sounds coming from the aliens?" John asked.

"Yes, that means the dimension field is weakening. If we do not fix the system that governs everything, soon the whole planet will be overrun by insane aliens." The Doctor said quickly.

"What do we do? How are we going to get there?" Heather asked.

The Doctor started running suddenly and John and Heather struggled to catch up to him. "We'll just have to hope that we can get there by walking through doors like we do with the TARDIS." The Doctor said quietly.

* * *

The GhostHunters walked slowly through the door that they had just pried open with crowbars. It was dark inside. Incredibly dark.

"Alright guys, night-vision goggles on!" Ivy ordered. They all lowered their NVGs and turned them on. They saw a normal entrance hallway of a house and decided to continue with the exploration of the house.

"Okay, you guys know the drill, find the living room and set up base camp, I'll go around and check out all the rooms." Ivy explained.

"Roger!" Chip acknowledged.

"Affirmative!"

"Remember to keep your night-vision cameras running, we want to capture everything." Ivy said before going the opposite way from Chip and Hulk.

Chip and Hulk manage to get to the living room safely enough and they struggle to quickly set up – what the team unofficially calls – 'base camp'. Where they set up computers on a flat surface and connect all their cameras around the various rooms to the computers.

Ivy's job was to go through and find all the stereotype ghost rooms – kitchens, bathrooms, basements, etc. – and set the cameras there while Chip and Hulk set up cameras in the living room and the surrounding area.

In ten minutes, Chip and Hulk manage to get all six of their cameras set up and was nearly finished with setting up the computers. In fifteen, they finished, and waited for Ivy for further instructions.

In twenty minutes, Ivy hadn't come back.

"She should have finished by now." Hulk complained.

"Ivy, come in Ivy, what is your status?" Chip said through the radio. There was only crackling. "Ivy, come in Ivy, this is not funny. Where are you?"

Still no answer.

"This is not good Chip." Hulk mumbled frightfully.

"Shut up Hulk!" Chip said, trying to sound brave but he was shaking uncontrollably. "Ivy, stop joking around, where are you?"

Suddenly, Ivy's cameras' feeds appeared on the computer screens, "sorry guys, I had trouble finding the rooms."

Chip grabbed his radio again, "Ivy, you idiot, turn the freaking night-vision on the cameras, I can't see anything."

"Don't you dare call me an idiot!" Ivy snapped, "I _have_ turned the night-vision on the cameras on."

"Then how come your cameras are completely black?" Chip asked.

"I don't know." Suddenly Ivy squealed.

"What? What is it?" Chip exclaimed.

"No, nothing, sorry, my night-vision suddenly turned off." Ivy mumbled.

"How is that possible? We made sure everything was in perfect condition before we started this session."

"I know, but everything's just completely black." Ivy said.

"I don't like the feeling of this." Hulk mumbled.

"Shut up!" Chip said, "have you fixed the problem with your NVGs yet?"

"Hang on, I'm try –" then there was crackling through the radio.

"Ivy! Ivy!" Chip exclaimed. Slowly, one by one, Ivy's cameras disconnected from the computers' network and then the computers turned themselves off.

"Chip!" Hulk yelled in fright.

"Just put your NVGs on Hulk!" Chip ordered him as he placed his own pair over his eyes.

There was only black. "What the? Mine won't work!"

"Mine too!" Hulk whined. "Something really weird is happening in this house. I'm going."

"Hang on Hulk!" Chip yelled, but it was too late, he could hear Hulk's heavy footsteps disappear.

That was odd, Chip thought, when quickly there was no sound at all. Not a door being opened, not sliding on floor woods, no muted thumps of running on carpet. Hulk's footsteps disappeared unnaturally quickly.

"Hulk?" Chip called out slowly. "Where are you buddy?"

"Suddenly, the NVGs worked and Chip found himself in a dark metal corridor. "where the hell am I?"

That was his last thought before he died.

* * *

**Look at that, I don't know where I'm getting the motivation to write this all of a sudden, but I am enjoying writing the new scenes and dialogue for this episode a lot! I realised in the first published version of this episode, things happened way too quickly and that's why the third episode was really small and kind of dry. All because I had revealed a lot of the information here. That is not the case this time around, I've already figured out what I'm going to do that's different in this version. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, look out for Chapter 7!**

**Kid.**


	7. A Bigger Complication

**Chapter 7:  
**A Bigger Complication

The trio approached the front doors of the house cautiously as it had gotten silent. "Hey, guys? You still in there?" John called out, hoping that nothing that the Doctor had feared had actually gone true. There was no response.

The Doctor walked up and pressed his ear onto the wall next to the door, "I can't hear anything. It seems that they've already travelled to the mental asylum."

"Does that mean we need to follow after them?" Heather asked.

"Well, there's not really much choice. I mean, they're wandering through the corridors of the home of the most notorious, _crazy_ aliens. Notorious aliens are normally bad enough. But with their insanity, they have no moral boundaries whatsoever, who knows what can happen to them?" the Doctor explained.

"Gee, that's making me want to go in so badly." Heather murmured.

"Hey, I don't like the idea as well. I put quite a few of the inmates in there. They might not like me at all." The Doctor interjected.

"Let's just make a choice right now, are we going to go and try to save them, or leave?" John asked.

"Leave?" the Doctor exclaimed.

"I mean –" John started.

"We can't just leave! Since when is leaving people behind a good idea?" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Doctor, lay off him. So far he's been handling all this well." Heather protected John.

The Doctor took a deep breath and calmed down, "you're right. I'm sorry John. But, we can't leave – and not only because we need the Ghost-Idiots, but that generator that's running the dimensional force field is really worrying me – I snap a lot don't I?"

"Quite a bit." Heather said.

"A lot." John said bluntly.

"Harsh crowds." The Doctor glared at John. Before John could say anything, the Doctor headed towards the door, "alright, let's get it over and done with. Hope for the best everybody."

Heather and John followed and stopped next to the Doctor who just stood in the front entrance hallway of the house, shutting his eyes tightly.

"Why are you doing that?" Heather asked.

"Well, if I was wrong about the whole similar-to-the-TARDIS-dimensional-technology thing, there were two possible outcomes of us going inside the house, either, we go inside the house, or we die a painful death."

Heather and John couldn't speak a word, the Doctor continued before starting to explore the house, "I'm glad that it wasn't the latter. Now where did the Ghost-People go if this is just a normal house? And what the hell is the generator doing making a force field that's surrounding the whole house if this is a normal house?"

"Maybe it's really haunted?" John asked, recovering from the speechlessness.

"Haunted? Maybe, I doubt it." The Doctor started to scan the cupboards in the living room.

"Anything Doctor?" Heather asked as she walked up to him while he studied the screwdriver's scans.

"Nothing. It still says that there's something here that's not here." The Doctor mumbled.

"Ghosts?" John asked again.

"I don't know!" the Doctor exclaimed, "what do you explain the figures out there?"

"I don't know, and for the record, I only wanted to have the interview and study the house from afar, so, please stop snapping at me and treating me like a toddler!" John snapped back.

The Doctor mumbled something under his breath and started to storm to a closed door, Heather mentioned for John to follow him. The Doctor opened the door quickly and walked through, and crashed into an invisible thing, "Ow!" he exclaimed.

"What happened?" Heather asked as she went into the room blindly.

"I bumped into something." The Doctor called back, not realising that he was now in a darkened futuristic room.

"Doctor, where are we?" Heather asked.

"Oh!" the Doctor exclaimed gleefully, hurried to the closed door behind Heather and John and opened it. They all squinted as it was bright and the Doctor read the sign on the door, "East Hemisphere Staff Room 4"

He walked back inside and turned the lights on. The lights revealed a small room with one couch and a big console-type thing in the corner. There were screens over the console type-thing and it showed several images of corridors and different rooms that was taken by the security cameras. "Oh look, a console-type thing!" the Doctor said happily and semi-skipped to it.

"Did we just go over to the asylum?" Heather asked.

"Yeah, so I was right, the tech that surrounds the house is like the TARDIS, but maybe it's an older one, as the time that it took to transfer us was so long. But, yeah, we are currently in the East Hemisphere Staff Room 4 which is, I take it, in the Eastern Hemisphere of Fort RedCore."

"So what do we do now?" John asked.

"Well, we try to find the others of course, and get them out before the inmates get to them." The Doctor explained.

"Why are you so tense about the asylum?" Heather asked the Doctor.

"Well, as I said before, Fort RedCore is totally automatic, most of the time, staff look after the facilities from the nearest moon. But sometimes, they spend short amounts of time living here to upgrade facilities, or the computer systems manually when they can't do it from the moon. Two, three days tops per visit. But that doesn't happen too often." The Doctor explained.

"Yeah, so?" John said.

"I'm getting to it!" the Doctor glared once again at John, "the staff doesn't really care about what happens between the inmates, as long as nothing of the facilities are damaged, so, brawls happen, other…extra curricular things happen and no one, and I am repeating this to stress it out, no one will stop them if anything…extra curricular happens."

"When you say extra curricular, do you mean –" John started.

"Yes, that's what I mean." The Doctor said seriously.

John made a disgusted face.

"I understand now." Heather murmured.

"Right, excellent, we all understand why I'm so hasty about getting out of here now? Let's go, we need to ninja our way around." The Doctor hurried towards the door.

"Ninja?" John asked himself.

"About that, how are we supposed to get out of here?" Heather asked. "The door that we came through was behind us when we came here and it was closed."

"Oh yeah, I'll think of something. For now, let's hurry!"

"Where are we going?" Heather asked.

"First, I think we need to go to the main generator control room. Luckily, it's located on this hemisphere!" the Doctor exclaimed and they scurried out.

* * *

They crawled their way up to a door that seemed like all the other doors that they had passed. But the Doctor stopped them anyway, "I believe this is the main generator control room." He said before opening the door.

The door slid open to reveal that it was in fact, not the main generator control room, but one of the four main mess halls of Fort RedCore. And it was meal time.

All of the inmates just turned and looked blankly at the trio and everybody stayed silent.

"Well, I'm glad that they're not jumping on us." The Doctor murmured quietly.

"Doctor?" a croaky voice called out from the mess hall.

"Is someone calling me?" the Doctor asked Heather and John.

"Doctor?" the voice called out again. This time, they were able to see who was calling out. It was a snake-like alien about 1.8 metres tall and brown in colour. His six legs stepping lightly and carefully around the other inmates and he held his three arm up in a wave. "Is that you Doctor?"

"Uh, yes, I am the Doctor. And you are?"

The alien clutched his chest and looked like he was in pain, "I cannot believe you do not recognise this face Doctor."

"Sorry, I am having problems with my memory, trying to fix it." The Doctor apologised and smiled uncomfortably.

"I see," the alien murmured, "well, it is I, Raxolun Mrh the Third, the ex-King of Morvo."

"The ex-King of Morvo! I see, haven't been there for a long time." The Doctor exclaimed.

"Indeed, your last visit to Morvo was 72 years ago. When you double-crossed me in my attempt to force open the walls between the universes." Raxolun murmured seriously, before his voice turned light again, "there are no hard feelings of course. My treatments have shown to me that you had done the right thing."

"I see." The Doctor murmured.

"The doctors say that if I keep going with my treatment, I shall be able to leave Fort RedCore sooner rather than later. Five years maximum."

"Well, I am very happy for you." The Doctor bowed down and kissed Raxolun's scaly hand.

"What are you doing?" Heather asked.

"That is how the Morvorites shake hands." The Doctor straightened.

"But there were no shaking of hands involved." Heather pointed out.

"It's the same level of formality." The Doctor groaned. "Little details, little details. When it's a life-or-death situation, yes, little details are very important. But this is not one of those situations." The Doctor explained to Heather and John, "not yet."

"So Raxolun Mrh the Third –" the Doctor started.

"You do not need to call me that, I am not King, call me Raxolun." Raxolun explained.

"Raxolun, I am pleasantly surprised that none of the other inmates have attacked us yet. Fort RedCore has been known to be outrageously chaotic. What has happened?" the Doctor asked.

Heather was too focused on the aliens sitting down at the rows of the tables to notice the small alien inmate who tapped John's shoulder and ran away. John felt compelled to follow the alien and went out of the mess hall and down the corridor without anyone noticing.

"I am not sure, ever since I arrived 72 years ago, all of the other inmates has gradually got calmer and calmer. So calm that they were willing to vote me the unofficial leader of the whole Eastern Hemisphere of Fort RedCore." Raxolun explained.

"Wow, that is quite something Raxolun, unofficial leader, that is great." The Doctor said.

"What are you doing here Doctor?" Raxolun asked.

"Well, we're here for two things actually, the first is, I need to go over to the main generator control room to check up on the generators because the generator surrounding what is essentially your backyard, is breaking down and it leads straight to Earth." The Doctor started.

"I know where the main generator control room is located. I can take you there." Raxolun explained, "and your second matter?"

"Ah yes, we are looking for a group of three people. They call themselves," the Doctor paused to think of the name.

"GhostHunters." Heather chirped in.

"GhostHunters!" the Doctor exclaimed, "they are from Earth and should not be here in the first place, have you heard of three humans roaming around in the corridors?"

"No, I am sorry, but I have not heard of anything of the sort." Raxolun answered.

"I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. Anyway, let's go check up on the generators and then we'll focus more on the finding-idiots side of this adventure." The Doctor spun quickly and realised John was gone. "Where did John go?"

* * *

John finally caught up with the alien inside a small room, "what do you want?" John asked. The alien stayed silent. "If you're not going to tell me anything I'm going to go back to the Doctor and Heather."

He turned but the small alien grabbed his arm to stop him, "you can't." the alien squeaked.

John shook the alien's hold on his arm off. "Why not?"

"Because," the alien started, "there is a dark secret that's looming over Fort RedCore and it could mean the death of everyone here."

* * *

**Here we go, this is going to be another double-release so I won't write much. Hopefully this is alright, and you guys are enjoying it.**

**Kid**


	8. A Dark Secret

**Chapter 8:  
**A Dark Secret

"I wonder if this is going to work…" John murmured to himself as he was walking down a corridor, trying to find his way back to Heather and the Doctor. To his surprise, Heather answered on the other side. "Heather, it's me."

"Where are you John?" she said quickly.  
"What? Is that John?" he could hear the Doctor talking.

"I've just found out about something that's happening in Fort RedCore. I think it's important." John told Heather.

"Come to us quickly, we're heading towards the main generator control room. Raxolun is leading us there." Heather said.

"No, you need to come over to me. I'm over by staff room again where we first came in." John said.

"But –" Heather started.

"Please Heather, trust me just this once." John sighed.

There was a beat of silence before he heard Heather ask the Doctor, "Doctor, do you _need_ me to come with you to the main generator control room?"

"I guess not, why do you ask? Does John have a lead on the GhostHunter people?"

"Do you?" Heather asked John.

"No. But come still, it's important." John asked again.

"Yeah, he believes he does." Heather said.

"Alright then, while I go and deal with the generator problem, you two can deal with the GhostHunter problem." The Doctor said cheerfully.

"Okay, I'm coming over, don't move." Heather said and hung up.

"Like I would." John mumbled quietly.

* * *

Heather looked one last time at the Doctor and then turned when he motioned for her to go. She started jogging down the corridor back to the staff room. Somehow, the Doctor had done something using the sonic screwdriver to give her the map and she found the Eastern Hemisphere Staff Room 4 and used that to find her way through the blank corridors.

No one noticed the dark figure that was following her.

* * *

The Doctor finally arrived at the main generator control room with the help of Raxolun. It was a massive room, one wall was lined with big cylinders that slid up and down on a pixon roughly and loudly.

"Thank you so much for helping us." The Doctor semi-yelled to be heard over the machinery.

"It is not a problem Doctor, as I have told you, it was your actions that have led to my mental health improving, so I'm the one who should be thanking you." Raxolun replied. "What seems to be the problem with your memory?"

"It seems that I am unable to remember certain parts of my past. Let me tell you, that should be a relief for me, but they seem to be the ones that involve Heather. And I want to know why I have this selective amnesia." The Doctor explained, he turned to Raxolun, "we were following a lead, you know, before all of this. But things just went off-plan I guess."

"I am sorry for you Doctor." Raxolun said quietly.

"Don't be." The Doctor said quietly as well before turning his attention to the main console.

"I must excuse myself Doctor, as I have treatment to get to, I hope this will be very beneficial for your troubles." Raxolun said after a bit of silence.

"No problem Raxolun, and once again, thank you for getting me here." The Doctor turned and smiled.

"Farewell." Raxolun said before leaving the Doctor.

The Doctor soon found out that the problem with the generators was simply the fact that someone has manually disabled a couple of the power sources that were powering the force field generator and a couple of other force field generators. The Doctor scanned the console and some more info popped up on the screen.

"What? No staff number and ID code presented?" the Doctor squinted at the info on the screen, "how did they manage to manually disable the power sources without a staff number and ID code?"

He scanned the console again and a staff number and ID code automatically filled itself out in the respective slots and he was in the system. "Alright, this is just a simple matter of reactivating the power sources, and then I'm out of here."

When he was done, he scanned the console for the last time and everything went back the way it was before he hacked in. He turned and was surprised by a small alien inmate who was standing by the door.

"We're all in danger. There's a dark secret that's hanging over Fort RedCore Doctor. You need to help us." The inmate told the Doctor.

"It can never be a simple matter, can it?" the Doctor sighed.

* * *

The same inmate was in front of John right at that moment as well. "Alright, you got me here, and my friend is coming over. What is the dark secret that you were going to tell me?"

"Not everything in Fort RedCore is what or who they seem to be." The inmate said quietly in its squeaky voice.

"What?" John asked.

"Watch out for Raxolun Mrh the Third especially." The inmate continued.

"What, the one who's helping the Doctor get his way to the main generator control room right now?"

"Oh no." murmured the inmate.

"What?"

"I overheard their plans, they were planning on ambushing him, and if the Doctor is in the main generator control room right now, that means your female friend is not safe also."

"What? I've got to warn her!" John exclaimed and quickly took out his phone.

Suddenly, a giant inmate appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the small alien inmate and crushed his neck in his palm. John screamed his lungs out as the giant approached him.

Before John could finish dialling Heather's number, John was swatted into the wall by the giant and immediately passed out.

* * *

**Here is chapter 8 finally. I am writing the chapters as quickly as possible, to make sure that Game Maker: The EPIK Gaming Chronicles' Chapter 4 won't take too long to be published.**

**I hope that this has been an enjoyable double-release. Watch out for the final three chapters that are going to be release in a three-chapter release. Coming out as soon as possible.**

**Till then, happy reading and reviews please!**

**Kid**


	9. A Concern Too Great to Ignore

**Chapter 9:  
**A Concern Too Great to Ignore

"Come on John, pick up your stupid phone." Heather muttered quietly as she listened to her phone ringing. The mechanical voice of the voicemail came on and she hung up. "Where are you?"

Suddenly her phone rang and she looked at the screen. 'Private Caller'. "Where are you John?" she said loudly by accident when she accepted the call.

"John? I thought he was with you." The Doctor's voice said on the other end.

"No he isn't, I'm getting a bit anxious." Heather explained.

"Just keep looking for him, he must be around somewhere." The Doctor encouraged her.

"Why did you call me?" Heather asked.

"Oh yeah, I called you to check up on John and to tell you that I've found out the problem with the generators, I've set up a timer to lock up the generators. It should be fine afterwards, but we need to get out of Fort RedCore as soon as possible. So, we need to find out where the GhostHunters and John are and then we can go." The Doctor explained.

"Alright, I'll go straight ahead and try and find them." Heather said.

"Yeah, I'll look too. We'll meet up back at the mess hall okay?" the Doctor asked.

"Why the mess hall? Don't we need to go back to where we entered Fort RedCore?" Heather asked.

"Don't worry, I've got it worked out." The Doctor mentioned.

"Would you care to tell me what you've worked out?" Heather asked.

"Calm down Heather, just focus on finding the others, and I'll tell you when we group up in the mess hall, okay?" the Doctor said.

"Fine." Heather grumbled.

"That's a good sport, okay, bye for now!" the Doctor said and he hung up before Heather could respond.

The small inmate appeared in front of Heather, covering the door. She squealed and jumped.

"I'm sorry," the inmate said in its squeaky voice, "I did not mean to startle."

"No, sorry, I'm just very riled up at the moment. What's your name?"

"I'm afraid there is no time for introductions, I need to warn you of a dark secret that applies to everyone in Fort RedCore." The inmate said solemnly.

* * *

The Doctor runs back to the main generator control room to edit the timer to allow them as much time as they needed to get out. He looks at the screen on his sonic screwdriver and smiled, "alright, that's ready!"

He turned around and half-jumped when he saw Raxolun standing right behind him.

"Whoa! Did not know you were there Raxolun, when did you get here?" the Doctor laughed uncomfortably at the closeness of Raxolun.

"I'm sorry Doctor, I have recently been informed that there is an alien inmate running around, spouting out false information in the hopes of creating a propaganda that something terrible is about to happen to Fort RedCore. Have you seen this inmate?"

"Well, there are a lot of alien inmates around, so I don't know who you're talking about until you describe him." The Doctor said carefully.

"The inmate is tiny in size, only about your hip-height Doctor –" Raxolun started.

"Oh! That small fellow! No, he wasn't spouting anything bad about Fort RedCore." The Doctor turned towards the door and started to hurry to it.

Raxolun managed to hurry up to the Doctor and knocked him out with a heavy hit to the back of the Doctor's head.

* * *

"Something is not right." The alien inmate started, "There's someone or something that's shutting down the multiple systems in the aylum."

"Shutting down systems? Systems like what?" Heather asked.

"At first they were only minor systems like the systems that govern the restrooms, but soon, they'll be shutting down the life support." The alien inmate continued.

"Life support? You mean-?" Heather started.

"Yes, this will result in everybody dying." The inmate explained.

Suddenly, the giant inmate crashes through the wall and Heather and the inmate jumped. "Run!" Heather yelled and they both hurry out before the giant was able to grab them.

Heather and the inmate ran as fast as they can down the corridor, "we need to split up!" Heather panted. The inmate nodded and turned left down another corridor as Heather continued.

She saw the giant inmate pause behind her at the intersection before running after her. When she turned to face where she was running, she realised that there was a locked door in her way, she tried to unlock it but before she could, something hit her heavily on the head and she was knocked out.

* * *

**Check out what happens next! Right now! Hurry!**

**Kid**


	10. A Prisoner, Or Two, Or Three

**Chapter 10:  
**A Prisoner, Or Two, Or Three…

The Doctor groaned and gingerly felt the back of his head, there was probably going to be a bruise there. He remembered what happened and jumped up and scanned his surroundings. He was still in the main generator control room. And Raxolun was still there, watching him.

"What is happening here in Fort RedCore is nothing as it seems isn't it?" the Doctor murmured.

"How smart of you Doctor, full marks for you!" the Voice joked, talking through Raxolun, "How's Heather Doctor?"

"If you've done anything to Heather –" the Doctor started, but the Voice spoke over him.

"Calm down Doctor, she's only a prisoner," the Voice paused, "at least for now."

"What about John?" the Doctor asked, "you've got him as well?"

"Why yes Doctor, how did you ever know?" the Voice taunted.

"You're quite predictable." The Doctor murmured.

"Predictable?" the Voice asked before laughing. He calmed down after a bit, "you know what? I'm bored. You and Heather aren't really much fun. So let's play a game."

"A game?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, it's more like a movie for me, and a challenge for you." The Voice explained. "Come forth!"

From the shadows behind the Doctor, an alien inmate stomped forward. It had a sloth-like face and was about two metres in height. Brown matted hair covering most of its body and a great big black nose sniffed the air constantly as it stopped next to the Doctor.

"A Fexilocorp?" the Doctor exclaimed, "How is this going to be a movie? He can tear me apart in three seconds."

"Because you won't be fighting against it Doctor." The Voice explained, "you're going to race it."

"Race it?" the Doctor murmured.

Raxolun pointed to the console, a map appeared on the screen, "here is a map of the Eastern Hemisphere of Fort RedCore. Where we are right now, is the red dot at the bottom, the finish line, is the green dot near the top." The Voice started explaining, "the rules are simple, reach the finish line before the Fexilocorp does, and you'll win the challenge."

"What makes you think I'm going to play along with your silly little game?" the Doctor said confidently.

"Because you're not going to look at this as a 'silly little game' for much longer." The Voice answered.

The map on the screen changed into the feed of a security camera on the roof of a tower. Bundled in rope on the edge of the roof, was John. The Doctor's face changed to a solemn one when he saw that the finish line was actually the first one to reach John first. There was no doubt in his mind that if the Fexilocorp were to reach John first, John would be killed brutally by it.

"I see that now you understand that this is not merely a 'silly little game'. As soon as I finish speaking to you, you'll have thirty seconds to study the map and work out a route that would take you to John faster than the Fexilocorp. The black line is the route that has been programmed for the Fexilocorp, and the darkened areas are off-limits. Who knows what could happen to you if you try to get out of the race." The Voice laughed.

A countdown started over Raxolun's head and the Doctor realised that the race had started. He ran over to the screen and studied the map as quickly as he could. Before he could make a route that was going to be faster than the Fexilocorp's, a siren sounded and he saw that the countdown had finished and the Fexilocorp started stomping down the path that had been programmed into him. The Doctor hurried after it.

* * *

"_Doctor!" Heather screamed._

"_Go go go!" the Doctor yelled as he tried to catch up to her._

_Heather managed to find the room they were heading for, the Western Hemisphere Staff Room 3. She opened the door and saw the dark interior of the supposedly 'haunted' house back on Earth._

"_Come on Doctor! It's right here!" Heather called._

_The Doctor hurried after her and shoved her into the room before the force field had locked behind them._

"_Ow," Heather groaned as she squirmed underneath the Doctor's body, "get off me Doctor, you're hurting me."_

"_Sorry," the Doctor said and he got up and brushed himself down. "That was too close."_

"_Too close." Heather agreed with him._

"_Come on, let's go back to the TARDIS." The Doctor held out his hand. She grabbed it and got up with the help of the Doctor, she groaned and grabbed her hip._

"_I think I landed on something." She mumbled._

_The Doctor chuckled, "sorry, sorry."_

_They walked out of the empty house and the Doctor locked the door with his sonic screwdriver._

"_What did you do again?" Heather asked him. "About the force field?"_

"_It was really simple, all I needed to do was set up a timer for the force field, when that timer counted down to zero, it would trigger a rubber-band-like effect that would strengthen the lock on the force field making sure that no more alien inmates could be seen by anybody anymore."_

"_So it's over?" Heather asked._

"_Yeah, it's over." The Doctor answered, "I'm hungry."_

* * *

Heather woke up back in a darkened room, she realised that it was the mess hall, now deserted. She groaned and held her head in her palms for a bit. Then she remembered what she had just dreamt about. She didn't question why her memories had started coming back, but she realised that the Doctor was going to do the exact same thing as last time that they were here.

She grabbed her phone and tried to call John, still no answer. She then tried to call the Doctor, and he also didn't answer. She held her phone tightly and stood up, "come on guys, where are you?"

* * *

The Doctor had been running for about twenty minutes, and even with his Gallifreyan stamina, he was starting to get tired. Something that the Voice had probably counted on.

The Fexilocorp was not a creature built for speed, but they were capable of reaching 15 kilometres an hour. And to match that speed or go faster for twenty minutes, is an achievement for anybody.

The Doctor knew that the route that was programmed into the Fexilocorp by the Voice was not the quickest, but it is easily the second quickest to get to the roof of the tower that John was tied up on.

A majority of the Doctor's route did not cross over with the Fexilocorp's route so the Doctor cannot tell whether he is winning or losing most of the time. The Doctor wiped his sweaty forehead and pushed through the building burning sensation on his throat.

Suddenly, something in the corner of his eyes noticed something, he quickly glanced over and saw that there was a figure standing against a wall far away. He glanced once more and could just make out that the figure was wearing a bowtie and a tweed jacket.

He shook his head to focus on getting to John before the Fexilocorp.

* * *

**One more chapter, hurry over and read it!**

**Kid.**


	11. A Heart-Breaking Occurence

**Chapter 11:  
**A Heart-Breaking Occurrence

Heather had been sitting on the floor of the mess hall for about twenty minutes, and still she couldn't reach the Doctor or John. She abruptly stood up, "that's it, I can't wait anymore, I need to try and find them." And she exited the mess hall as stealthily as she could.

She was glad that there were no inmates anywhere around and for a little bit, she was confident. That was before she realised that the map wasn't showing up on her phone anymore and that she was lost.

* * *

The Doctor was glad that the Voice decided to allow him to look at the map once more as a screen lit up at the end of the corridor in front of him. He panted as he studied the map and realised that there was only one more corridor and flights of stairs that separate him and John.

There were stomping behind him and when he turned, he realised that he was _just_ in front of the Fexilocorp. Before he could catch his breath properly, the Doctor started running down the corridor.

The Doctor reached the bottom of the steps about fifteen metres in front of the Fexilocorp and started to climb the flights of stairs, taking it three stairs at a time.

By the third flight of stairs, the Doctor slowed down, only taking two stairs at a time before he lost most of his energy by the fourth flight of stairs.

The Doctor knew that the Fexilocorp was gaining up on him and was slightly releaved when he saw the door that lead to the roof.

He hurried through and was nearly blown off his feet by the gust of wind that was created by Fort RedCore's artificial environment system. He saw John at the edge of the roof at the other end and hurried towards him. To his horror, a gust of wind blew towards John and managed to roll John off the roof.

The Doctor screamed, but noticed that John had been tied to an antenna and raced for that.

The Fexilocorp didn't bother with the door and crashed through the wall, and before he knew it, the Fexilocorp had completely caught up with the Doctor and then passed him.

The Doctor pushed himself and managed to catch up to the Fexilocorp, and with the last of his stamina, he shoved the Fexilocorp out of the way. The Doctor lost his balance and fell hard onto the ground.

Unfortunately, the Doctor shoved the Fexilocorp right into the antenna and it crumbled at the force that the Fexilocorp had hit it with and the both John and the Fexilocorp fell to their deaths.

"No!" the Doctor panted. He managed to stand up and stumbled to the edge of the roof and saw both John and the Fexilocorp fall before they disappeared because of distance.

"No!" the Doctor yelled again. And that followed with a cry of rage, before he collapsed onto his hands and knees panting. His lungs trying to get oxygen to go to his brain and his hearts.

"No." the Doctor panted.

* * *

Heather walked down to the end of a corridor and saw that it was a dead end. As she was about to turn around, she felt compelled to open a door. She stood there, fighting herself whether or not she should check what was behind it, and she then finally decided to open it.

The door slid open and revealed a darkened room. She walked in and her movement triggered the automatic lights. She screamed her heart out and fainted.

On the floor, were the mangled and slightly-bloody bodies of Chip, Hulk and Ivy.

* * *

**There, here is the cliffhanger of "A House's Secret". How is the Doctor going to react to the death of John? How is Heather going to react to the death of John? How are they going to fully resolve the force field problem on Fort RedCore? What are the Voice's plans? All of these questions (and probably more) will be answered in "The Great Escape". Which is what I'll start writing after I publish Chapter 4 of "Game Maker: The EPIK Gaming Chronicles".**

**So until then, reviews are so welcome, hope you enjoyed this episode!**

**Kid.**


End file.
